1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer networks and in particular to storage area networks (SANs). Still more particularly, the preset invention relates to a method and system for managing SANs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Storage area networks (SANs) are distributed storage systems developed to increase the efficiency of high performance computer systems that typically require large amounts of easily accessible storage. A SAN comprises an array of disks connected by a Fibre optic switch fabric to storage servers. The storage servers are connected to a network that delivers the storage services to the high performance computer systems. In addition to the network of storage disks, the SAN typically also include switches, servers, and disk subsystems.
Included within a convention SAN management environment are a SAN manager engine, a topology repository, a discovery list and a configuration table. The SAN manager engine communicates with management agents of devices of the SAN to retrieve configuration data from each agent. The management agents in switches store configuration information.
The topology repository includes data from all SAN devices as collected by the SAN manager from manager agents. The SAN manager can also generate a topology tables based on the data in the repository. The discovery list provides information on all SAN devices.
SANs are managed using SAN management software. An important feature of conventional SAN management software is automatic discovery of all SAN devices, including the servers, switches, and disk subsystems, in a SAN. SAN management software also stores a topology of the discovered SAN devices. Conventional SAN management software also enables an operator to visualize the topology of a single type of network. For example, SAN management software enables an operator to view the topology of a fibre channel (“FC”) SAN.
Conventional SANs, such those provided by IBM eServer brands, have (or are working towards having) multiple logical or physical (blades) partitions in a host that have SAN connectivity. Logical OSes share one or more HBAs (host bus adapters) connected to a SAN. Typically there will be one or more “hosting” or trusted partitions that own the HBA(s). These hosting partitions host many “hosted” (or untrusted) OS partitions that have a virtual view of the HBA. Also, a host system may consist of many physical partitions (blades), with some or all partitions having dedicated HBAs and SAN connectivity via a bundled fibre channel switch in the host system.
The present invention recognizes that new SAN management functionality is needed to manage environments with these multi-partition host systems. The invention further recognizes that it would be desirable to include within the management functionality a graphical presentation of the partition hierarchy and relationships, as well as logical SAN storage resource views within a partition. These and other benefits are provided by the invention described herein.